The primary work of the Holy Spirit today in a Christian’s life is his sanctifying believers to be “spiritual”—to be characterized by inner life and external behavior that conforms to the will of God.

However, another result attributed often to the Spirit in the New Testament is gifting. Some gifting was special empowerment for leadership of God’s people. This unique gifting given temporarily to key figures like prophets and apostles often resulted in revelation, special miracles, notable power, and even less extraordinary gifting like boldness and courage. Often this empowerment was described as being “filled [pimplēmi] with the Spirit,” where the Spirit is the content of the filling.

It was by means of this extraordinary Spirit filling that key individuals prophesied. And in the same way, by means of this unique Spirit filling  the disciples spoke in tongues (Acts 2:4), the disciples were given extraordinary boldness to speak the Word of God (Acts 4:31), and Paul was equipped for his apostolic work (Acts 9:17). This kind of filling and gifting is unique and ought not be something we should expect today.

But this is also true of the more ordinary Spirit filling (plērēs/plēroō), where this language is used to describe the Spirit’s work in every believer’s life to sanctify him through his Word and equip him for service. For example, by means of this ordinary Spirit filling, Jesus was given strength to resist temptation (Lk 4:1–2), the first deacons were equipped to serve (Acts 6:3), and Stephen was given courage in the face of death (Acts 7:55).

Furthermore, the New Testament uses several terms to describe gifts that are given by the Spirit of God to believers:

• pneumatikon – “spiritual gifts” (1 Cor 12:1)
• charisma – “grace gifts” (1 Cor 12:4; 1 Pt 4:10)
• diakonia – “service” (1 Cor 12:5; 1 Pt 4:10)
• energema – “activity” (1 Cor 12:6)
• doma – “gift” (Eph 4:8)
• merismos – “distributed gifts” (Heb 2:4)
• phanerosis – “manifestation” (1 Cor 12:7)

As can be seen in the representative Scripture references listed above, many of these terms are clearly used to describe the same thing. First Corinthians 12 in particular makes this clear, where the same concept is called “spiritual gifts” (12:1), “grace gifts” (12:4), “service” (12:5), “activities” (12:6), and “manifestation” (12:7). Similarly, 1 Peter 4:10 uses both “grace gifts” and “service” to describe the same thing.

First Corinthians 12 explains that these gifts are given “through the Spirit” (v. 8) or “by the one Spirit” (v. 9), and that they are “the manifestation of the Spirit” (v. 7). Since these passages explicitly ascribe the giving of these gifts to the Holy Spirit, other passages that discuss such gifts may also safely be attributed to a work of the Holy Spirit.

Clearly 1 Corinthians 12 is a key passage that helps us to understand the nature of these gifts. Several important points can be drawn out concerning gifts of the Spirit. First, Paul emphasizes their variety (vv 4, 5, 6). The Greek word translated “varieties” in each of those cases is the word from which we get our English word, “diversity.” And the word translated “apportions” in verse 11 is the verb form of the same word translated “varieties” earlier.

Second, Paul emphasizes that the Spirit gives such gifts to every believer: “to each” (v 7); “to one,” “to another” (v 8); “to another” (v 9), “to another,” “to another” (v 10); “to each one individually” (v 11). This is also clear through the rest of the chapter as he emphasizes the important function of every member of the body, each of whom has been gifted.

Third, both the use of the term diakonia (“service”) as a term for such gifting and the whole point of Paul’s discourse in this passage make clear the purpose of Spirit gifting: service within the body of Christ. He says directly in verse 7, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Thus, we could define these gifts are Spirit-given abilities “given for service within the ministry and outreach of the local church,”¹McCune, A Systematic Theology: Volume 2, 349. Wayne Grudem, a continuationist, defines them similarly: “A spiritual gift is any ability that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and used in any ministry … Continue reading including miraculous gifts (e.g. prophecy, miracles, healing, and tongues) and non-miraculous gifts, which Stitzinger describes as abilities that “operate within the natural realm of order even though God’s hand of providence is involved”²Stitzinger, “Spiritual Gifts: Definitions and Kinds,” 161. (e.g. evangelism, teaching, mercy, administration, etc.).

The purpose of Spirit gifting is clear: service within the body of Christ.

How Does the Spirit Give These Gifts?

Now most cessationists claim that only so-called “miraculous” gifts have ceased, but other gifts of the Spirit continue, such as teaching, hospitality, evangelism, etc. I believe that is a perfectly acceptable position considering the purpose of the gifts. However, I will make a brief case here for why I believe all gifts supernaturally given by the Spirit have ceased in this age, though he continues to gift his people providential through natural means.

This is admittedly a minority position, even among cessationists. Most who hold to a cessationist view limit the cessation of gifts only to what they describe as “miraculous sign gifts”—prophecy, healing, tongues, etc. The argument, with which I wholeheartedly agree, is that these gifts were provisional in nature, given temporarily to unique individuals like prophets and apostles at key transitional periods in the progress of God’s redemptive plan. Their purpose was to bring God’s people and purposes into order during times when new revelation was necessary and “epochally significant”³Ferguson, The Holy Spirit, 224. events were happening in history.

In the New Testament, Larry Pettegrew stresses that “the Spirit gave gifts to the first Christians if for no other reason than to make the transition from the old covenant program to the new covenant program as smooth as possible.”⁴Larry D. Pettegrew, The New Covenant Ministry of the Holy Spirit, Second edition (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2001), 157. This is why, for example, Paul describes “signs and wonders and mighty works” as “signs of a true apostle” (2 Cor 12:12). Pettegrew’s full explanation is worth quoting:

[1] The revelational gifts, therefore, were bestowed on the apostles and prophets to explain what the church was to believe and how it was to operate in the first age of the new covenant program. [2] The miraculous gifts were given to authenticate the new covenant ministry and authority of the apostles—especially in the giving of revelation. [3] Many of the other gifts were given to enable the churches to function according to the will of God when no New Testament Scriptures were available on a widespread scale.⁵Pettegrew, The New Covenant Ministry of the Holy Spirit, 186–87.

Yet notice that Pettegrew includes in his list of temporary gifts that the Spirit gave for transitional purposes “revelational gifts,” “miraculous gifts,” and “other gifts,” which would include “non-miraculous” gifts like teaching, evangelism, mercy, administration, etc.

I agree with Pettegrew for two primary reasons: First, all gifts described as such in the New Testament were miraculous. Consider Peter, for example, the bumbling disciple who often put his foot in his mouth during Jesus’s ministry, who preached boldly and eloquently on the Day of Pentecost after he had been supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit. The gift itself is not usually characterized as “miraculous,” but the means of gifting was certainly supernatural. Peter’s ability to preach from that moment on was not natural, learned, or developed; it was instantaneous and unexpected—it was supernatural.

Second, as Pettegrew emphasizes, even these gifts we would normally not characterize as supernatural were given to believers in the first century to bring the church in order during that transitional period moving from the old covenant era to the church age. The served the same function as the so-called “miraculous gifts,” and so the more “ordinary” gifts would have ceased as well once all of the revelation necessary for the firm establishment of the church had been inscripturated.

Rather than gifting believers in instantaneous, supernatural ways like he did during transitional periods, the Spirit gifts believers today providentially through natural means.

Providential Gifts

However, this does not mean the Spirit does not give gifts to the church today. He does. But rather than gifting believers in instantaneous, supernatural ways like he did during transitional periods, the Spirit gifts believers today providentially through natural means.

We do not see cases, for example, of an individual who could hardly put two intelligent words together prior to his conversion, instantaneously able to preach with eloquence when he receives the Holy Spirit. Rather, what we see is God providentially gifting individuals with abilities like teaching, administration, or mercy naturally so that when those individuals come to faith, they can use those God-given gifts for ministry within the church. I agree with Pettegrew when he says, “We today have providential abilities, talents, or gifts that parallel the gifts of the New Testament era.”⁶Pettegrew, The New Covenant Ministry of the Holy Spirit, 187.

I think this is important because many times the assumption that the Spirit still gives believers gifts in a supernatural way today fuels the “spiritual gift” fads in which Christians take quizzes to determine what their gifts are and then assume that if some area of service is not on their list, then they shouldn’t be expected to serve in that way. It also contributes to a sort of laziness in actually cultivating and learning new skills and abilities that can be used in the service of the church since they assumption is that if I don’t have a particular gift from the Spirit, then there’s nothing I can do about it.

No; similar to sanctification, all gifting does come from God, but we are still responsible to cultivate and grow in our God-given abilities for the edification of the body.

Similar to sanctification, all gifting does come from God, but we are still responsible to cultivate and grow in our God-given abilities for the edification of the body.

I also believe attempting to distinguish between “miraculous gifts” and “non-miraculous gifts” is one reason many people have a hard time accepting that only the miraculous gifts have ceased today. I understand the difficulty since such distinctions are somewhere artificial. Instead, I would suggest that all miraculous gifting has ceased since those gifts were temporary and transitional in nature, though God still gifts the church providentially through natural means.

This certainly does not limit attributing all good gifts to the Spirit of God. Indeed, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Nevertheless, there is a difference between gifts that the Spirit gives supernaturally, and those that he givens providentially and naturally.

Here is an example to drive this point home: If I have cancer, and after months of chemotherapy and surgery I am declared free from cancer, who gets the credit? Ultimately God does. Yet God’s healing did not come supernaturally; God healed me providentially and naturally by means of doctors and medicine. God gets no less credit or glory by healing me through natural means than he would through supernatural means.

Likewise, if I am enslaved to a particular sin, and after months of faithful church membership, Bible reading, and discipline I am freed from that enslavement, who gets the credit? Ultimately God does. Yet God did not instantaneously zap me with freedom from that sin; God freed me providentially and naturally by means of the spiritual disciples of this Word. God gets no less credit or glory by freeing me through those means than he would through instantaneous delivery.

The same is true of gifts from the Spirit today. The Spirit gifts every believer with ministry abilities for the edification of the church, and he does so providentially and naturally. When an individual is converted, the sanctifying work of the Spirit motivates him to use his gifts for ministry, and the Spirit empowers him to do so faithfully. But we are still responsible to work, to learn, and to cultivate the gifts God has given us. God gets no less credit or glory, because every good gift comes from him.

Ordering the Body

This concept of ordering describes the purpose of the Spirit’s work of gifting, specifically, an ordering of the body of Christ. Paul states that “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7). And that common good, according to Paul is the unity of the body:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Cor 12:12)

The whole purpose behind the Spirit gifting individual believers is so that they can function within the unified body that he is building. Whether the gifting is supernatural or providential, the result is the same. The Spirit gives gifts for the purpose of bringing order to the body of Christ.

Paul explicitly connects the Spirit’s giving of gifts to bringing order within the church a few chapters later, commanding, “Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Cor 14:12). The Holy Spirit’s gifting of individual Christians with a diversity of ministry abilities serves to build up the unity of the church—many members of one body (Rom 12:5), with the goal that this body will “attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13). Or, to use another NT metaphor for the church, by the Spirit, believers “are being built together into a dwelling place for God,” “a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:21–22).

Therefore, our response to this work of the Spirit should be clear: serve the church. Don’t worry about trying to figure out what your “spiritual gifts” are. Simply serve the church in any way you can. The Spirit has providentially gifted you to do so, so serve, and marvel at the ways the Spirit of God has uniquely gifted you to minister to others.

Author

Scott Aniol

Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief G3 Ministries

Scott Aniol, PhD, is Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of G3 Ministries. In addition to his role with G3, Scott is Professor of Pastoral Theology at Grace Bible Theological Seminary in Conway, Arkansas. He lectures around the world in churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries, and he has authored several books and dozens of articles. You can find more, including publications and speaking itinerary, at www.scottaniol.com. Scott and his wife, Becky, have four children: Caleb, Kate, Christopher, and Caroline. You can listen to his podcast here.